Book Club Review – Animal Legal Defense Fundhttp://aldf.org
Winning the Case Against CrueltyWed, 07 Dec 2016 21:09:14 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1Love in Infant Monkeyshttp://aldf.org/blog/love-in-infant-monkeys/
http://aldf.org/blog/love-in-infant-monkeys/#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 18:51:50 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=49908My fascination with apes and monkeys began with dreams of studying chimpanzees in Africa, like the legendary Dr. Jane Goodall, who created a decades-long, first-of-its-kind ethological study of wild chimpanzees in the mountains of Gombe National Park (Tanganyika). In Africa, apes and monkeys suffer unspeakable horrors at the hands of poachers. But the nightmarish suffering of our close cousins, these incredibly intelligent monkeys and the apes, isn’t just on the other side of the world. These sensitive animals are used in gruesome experiments in the U.S., as depicted in Lydia Millet’s story “Love in Infant Monkeys,” a fictional account of real-life tests inflicted on monkeys by the infamous Harry Harlow.

In the 1950s, Harlow had the idea to separate newborn monkeys from their mothers and expose them to trauma and terror. The goal was to measure the value of “love” between mother and child. These experiments came amidst other cruel tests, like boiling live rats, pinning the legs of cats together until they withered, cooking the skin of living dogs until it crisped from radiation, and removing the spinal cords of monkeys who were still alive, but immobilized. So Harlow’s tests at the University of Wisconsin, and the psychological torture they inflicted on baby monkeys, were de rigueur within the secretive world of animal experimentation.

An infant monkey was taken from her mother, put it in a box, and her panic noted. First anxiety, shaking, then screams, followed by symptoms of psychological suffering. Then the newborn infant was isolated for 30 days. Had the infant died of starvation, panic, and ceased all movement? Some had; those who had not went back in the box for more deprivation. Other “tests” included adding painful mother “surrogates”—objects with spikes, objects that blast cold wind. The monkeys, terrified by their isolation and abandonment, would cling to even these “bad” and painful mothers over no mother at all.

How could these cruel tests on primates continue? The Animal Welfare Act, regulated by the USDA, is the primary law designed to protect animals used for experimentation in laboratories. The law is poorly regulated, rarely enforced, and full of loopholes that allow the cruelest, most unthinkable experiments to continue. That’s why nearly 400,000 people have signed a Change.org petition against the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which has started up tests similar to Harry Harlow’s decades-old studies. ALDF has also filed a lawsuit against the university over these cruel tests.

Now, 20 newborn rhesus macaques are taken from their mothers on their first day of life and kept in a barren box, with only a stuffed “surrogate” and bottle for comfort. The infants undergo anxiety-inducing experiences, including unfamiliar “human intruders” and live snakes. Their blood and cerebrospinal fluid will be repeatedly harvested, and they will be subjected to invasive brain scans. The aim is to cause such severe trauma that their brain chemistry will have changed before the age of one. By 18 months, they will be killed.

In “Love in Infant Monkeys,” the reader sees Harlow, after his tests, stumbling drunkenly through a faculty party, only to end in the lab, where he sees the monkeys he’s broken psychologically. Later, the man who had remorselessly dismissed the suffering of monkeys is visited by nightmares, much like Ebenezer Scrooge, but here featuring the utter grief of the mother monkeys.

“He saw each infant in the heart of its mother, precious, unique, held so close because the mother was willing to die for [him]… All she wanted was the safety of her infant. She would chew off her feet for it. She would do anything… When he took the baby from her arms, her panic rose so high it could rise no higher; if she knew how to beg she would beg till the end of the world, scream until her throat split. Give me my baby back.”

And in this way, Lydia Millet’s story offers us an imaginative look into the souls of the mother monkeys, to show just how destructive and unnecessary these tests are. Maternal deprivation is torture.

“Love in Infant Monkeys” is the title story from a collection by Lydia Millet—a Pulitzer prize finalist, Salon Best Fiction of the Year for 2009, and a Los Angeles Times Favorite Fiction of 2009—featuring encounters between animals and celebrities, from David Hasselhoff to Madonna to Thomas Edison. Lydia has also written nine novels, including the brand new Mermaids in Paradise. She is the staff writer for the Center of Biological Diversity. Visit her website for more books about the lives of animals.

More Information

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/love-in-infant-monkeys/feed/1Among Animalshttp://aldf.org/blog/among-animals/
http://aldf.org/blog/among-animals/#commentsThu, 30 Oct 2014 23:30:54 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=49122As the fall days grow shorter and the leaves shimmer in their glory amidst the dusky hue of October, now is the time to curl up with a good book featuring stories about animals. Among Animals: The Lives of Animals and Humans in Contemporary Short Fiction will satisfy literary longings as well as interests in nonhuman animal lives. The brand new collection comes to us from Ashland Creek Press, edited by John Yunker—author of the animal and eco-themed novel The Tourist Trail—and features stories by sixteen entertaining writers on diverse topics in the animal world, from the human point of view.

The collection takes us into the exotic worlds of creatures most of us wouldn’t encounter without a long journey and a pricy excursion. In “The Ecstatic Cry,” author Midge Raymond sets her story in Antarctica where even for a lonely and isolated scientist studying a rare penguin colony, the environment is brimming with quiet life… and cold water.

“Emperors don’t build nests; they live entirely on fast ice and in the water, never setting foot on solid land… the female lays her egg, then scoots it over to the male and takes off, traveling a hundred miles across the frozen ocean to open water and swimming away to forage for food….

When the female emperor returns, she uses a signature call to find her partner. Reunited, the two move in close and bob their heads toward each other, shoulder to shoulder in an armless hug, raising their beaks in what we call the ecstatic cry. Penguins are romantics. Most mate for life.”

Amidst these musings, a stranger appears… and disappears one night while our narrator is alone in the middle of nowhere. The story is an elegy to the love of this remote-living, romantic animal colony, and the death of love in humans.

The collection features other animals like emus, pelicans, dolphins, farmed birds, stray dogs, baby turtles, and spotlights their impact on the humans around them. “Bad Berry Season,” by Melodie Edwards is about a park ranger who must deal with the colliding worlds of wild bears and humans in a small town on the edge of wilderness.

“The faces of bears, once you’re used to looking at them, are expressive, each one singular and his own… Sweet talk can work on bruins the way it works on pets. Sometimes a bear will roll over and grin like a dog when you call. But this bear was in a pickle, cornered with people everywhere, no escape.”

In C.S. Malerich’s story “Meat,” a story sure to raise some brows, a young girl adopts an animal and names her Meat because her mother says “that’s what she’s going to be.” Over her mother’s resistance, the young narrator bonds with Meat, bathes with her, feeds her near the dining table, sleeps with her, all the way up to Meat’s slaughter, through the moment of death, later consuming Meat’s flesh, and ends with the unexpected impact this has on each individual family member.

“I whispered ‘good-bye’ in her ear. When I pulled away, she was confused. And then the butcher came up behind her with his stun gun, and his big hand was on her shoulder. She was still looking at me, and there was no more curiosity and no more confusion. Meat was scared.”

It’s a disturbing story worth reading because of the way it displays the problematic desire to consume animals without guilt, and the natural inclination animal lovers have for all animals who become like pets. Meat’s species is never fully identified, and for all we know she could be a pig, a goat… or a dog.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/among-animals/feed/23Growl: Compassion, Truth, Nonviolence, and Justice in Animal Advocacyhttp://aldf.org/blog/growl-compassion-truth-nonviolence-and-justice-in-animal-advocacy/
http://aldf.org/blog/growl-compassion-truth-nonviolence-and-justice-in-animal-advocacy/#commentsThu, 18 Sep 2014 21:07:47 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=48796Kim Stallwood is British animal rights scholar every advocate for animals should have on his or her radar. His latest book, Growl: Life Lessons, Hard Truths, and Bold Strategies from an Animal Advocate from Lantern Books, has been long-awaited by the Animal Book Club. Growl’s main drive is an exploration of how to co-exist with nonhuman animals using four main principles or “key values” of truth, compassion, nonviolence, and justice. The book also raises important questions about animal advocacy.

Can animals have rights? Growl investigates this question in practical terms and philosophical measure. Opponents claim animals cannot have legal rights because they cannot articulate reason or consciousness (although even this has been challenged). Yet, Growl asks readers to consider: moral and legal rights are commonly given to humans—such as infants and the mentally impaired—who don’t possess those requirements. So why not allow the same for the interests of nonhuman animals?

Kindness to animals, Kim notes, referencing Immanuel Kant, is a virtue worthy of human moral systems. And justice—as opposed to charity—is what is required for these moral systems. As he writes, “injustice characterizes our activities with animals. The animal industrial complex is injustice on a massive scale.” And this sense of justice distinguishes the seriousness with which one pursues animal protection. Many animal charities, he suggests, are based on “individual good-heartedness.” Justice, on the other hand, “reflects the sanction (in both meanings of the word) of society and the enforcement of law and order.”

And it is in this way that Kim’s work aligns with that of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Our mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals using the legal system. Animals need laws to protect them from harm and to advance their interests: animals need more than the kind-hearted generosity of few, they need the permanent protection of the whole. Kim writes:

I am optimistic for the future of animal rights in the U.S. because of the strength of the third branch of the government—the judiciary—and the ability to develop public policy through the courts.

And that is the work the Animal Legal Defense Fund continues to do, in the ballot box, the courts, and working with community and individuals to better protect animals.Growl (evocative of Allan Ginsberg’s famous poem Howl) encompasses the work of a lifelong animal advocate and complements Kim’s alter-ego blog and social media presence as The Grumpy Vegan. Kim describes five stages of effective social movements: public education, policy development, legislation, enforcement, and public acceptance.

Kim Stallwood founded the Animal Rights Network—the world’s largest library on animal rights—and was once national director of PETA, campaigns officer for the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection, and national organizer for Compassion in World Farming. For many years he was executive editor of The Animals’ Agenda and currently edits Speaking Out for Animals, and is the European director for the Animals and Society Institute, an organization he co-founded in 2005. He has also written Animal Dharma. Visit Kim’s website to learn more about the Animal Rights Challenge to make society’s treatment of animals the responsibility of society.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/growl-compassion-truth-nonviolence-and-justice-in-animal-advocacy/feed/6The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?http://aldf.org/blog/the-ultimate-betrayal-is-there-happy-meat/
http://aldf.org/blog/the-ultimate-betrayal-is-there-happy-meat/#commentsThu, 29 May 2014 17:12:50 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=47558This week, the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s Animal Book Club is considering the question of “happy meat” or humane farming. Can the concept of humane slaughter be implemented realistically, or does the label merely make us feel better about the consumption of sentient beings? What does the law say, and how do animal protection laws, food safety laws, and trends in consumption reflect the contradictions in these concepts? These are issues considered in a recent book by Hope and Cogen Bohanec called The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat?

As consumers grow more conscious of the animal cruelty and the environmental degradation caused by industrial agriculture—known as factory farming—they pay more attention to labeling. For example, the Animal Legal Defense Fund has petitioned the USDA to regulate labels on meat and poultry containing antibiotics. That legal petition is bolstered by a petition signed by more than 100,000 people and counting, asking the USDA to require labels on meat derived from animals given antibiotics. Most antibiotics sold in this country are fed to farmed animals (rather than humans) who are not even sick. Antibiotics are given to animals preventatively—prior to the outbreak of illnesses derived from living in unimaginably close quarters on factory farms. This overuse of antibiotics is helping to breed resistance in bacteria, or “superbugs,” who are immune to antibiotics. This is potentially the number one health threat in the U.S. And consumers who want to avoid meat produced with antibiotics have no reliable way to identify such products without proper labels.

Conscious consumers often turn to alternatives like small and/or local farms, yet remain vulnerable to vague and loosely regulated labels like “organic” and “cage-free,” even though state law and regulatory agencies do not define these terms (or enforce the laws) very clearly. As the authors of The Ultimate Betrayal write, cage-free can mean “a large, windowless warehouse where tens of thousands of birds are confined inside on the floor… with just about one square foot of floor space per bird….” Furthermore, many cage-free warehouses are on the same factory farms as the controversial battery-cage operations. Truth-in-advertising is critical in order to ensure consumers are not deceived, and ALDF recently settled a lawsuit on this very issue with a Bay Area egg producer. We resolved a similar issue with the largest producer of force-fed “foie gras” (the diseased livers of young ducks and geese) in the nation, when they marketed themselves as “humane” producers.

Consumers do care about these issues. Californians passed “Prop 2,” which banned (as other states have) the use of “gestation crates” that prevent pregnant pigs from standing, turning around, or moving comfortably. Studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay a premium for animal products they perceive to have been produced “humanely.” Yet with anti-cruelty laws that are hard to enforce, and conditions at factory farms or even small farms that are difficult for the severely understaffed federal agencies like the USDA and FDA to regulate, how do we determine what is “humane” about consuming animal products? From warehouses and sheds to the hooks at the slaughterhouse, from environmental concerns to animal cruelty… just how humane can animal agriculture be? The authors conclude their study by writing “we are now convinced that the state of alternative agriculture is actually worse than we thought when we started this project. We found time and again that the conditions for the animals are only marginally improved by alternative farming methods and inherent cruelties abound.” For more information about alternative practices and the problem with “humane” meat, read The Ultimate Betrayal.

Authors Hope and Cogen Bohanec, two local activists residing in ALDF’s own backyard of Sonoma County, California, have long dedicated their lives to animal advocacy and environmental protection. Hope Bohanec is Projects Manager for United Poultry Concerns. The Ultimate Betrayal is now available in soft cover and e-book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/the-ultimate-betrayal-is-there-happy-meat/feed/5Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogshttp://aldf.org/blog/citizen-canine-our-evolving-relationship-with-cats-and-dogs/
http://aldf.org/blog/citizen-canine-our-evolving-relationship-with-cats-and-dogs/#commentsFri, 02 May 2014 17:03:10 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=47266This week, ALDF’s Animal Book Club reads David Grimm’s new book Citizen Canine: Our Evolving Relationship with Cats and Dogs. David’s book is a consideration of the legal implications of the changing place of animals in society. “The public isn’t aware of the legal status of animals,” David says. “There is really no other book for a broad audience that brings this awareness like Citizen Canine.”

A science buff and animal lover, David considered becoming a veterinarian but instead completed a doctoral degree in genetics. Yet he also pursued a career in journalism and has been the online news editor of Science for ten years. In Citizen Canine, he dedicates an important section to the Animal Legal Defense Fund and its formative role in the animal protection movement. The groundbreaking efforts of ALDF founder Joyce Tischler, as well as a number of influential and passionate staff, feature in the book. As David points out, “the animal law movement continues to grow.”

As a journalist, David says he works hard not to advance a particular viewpoint, and in his research he spoke to people from all sides of the aisle. For example, the American Veterinary Medical Association has opposed personhood rights for companion animals. “Vets are in a tricky situation,” David explains. Veterinarians benefit from the fact that people are willing to spend whatever it takes on the health of their companion animals. “It’s what allows the profession to exist, this relationship people have with animals,” he says. “But that stops in the courtroom.” Veterinarians argue that malpractice suits would be costly if animals were valued beyond the price of their purchase.

For example, in 2013 Citizen Canine explains, the Texas Supreme Court decided a case “involving the accidental euthanasia of a dog at an animal control facility.” Even though “the owners weren’t asking for anything close to personhood; they just wanted to recover damages for the sentimental value of their dog… But even that was a bridge too far for the AVMA, whose amicus heavily influenced the judges to deny the claim. As the law now stands in Texas, you can recover more money if someone destroys a picture of your dog than if they destroy the dog itself.”

A fundamental problem for companion animals is that they are considered property under the law, but this wasn’t always the case. “A hundred years ago cats and dogs were not property,” David says. “Only economically viable animals like farmed animals were considered property.” And yet, he says, the way the law treats animals—both now and then—is out of step with reality. “Only 1% of pet owners consider their pets to be property.” In reality, our love of cats and dogs blurs the boundary between companion and property. David explains that cases involving animal custody, emotional distress, and felony anti-cruelty laws mean considering what is in the best interest of animals.

Companion animals also “keep us anchored to the real world.” It’s only in the last decades that companion animals have become like family members, David writes in Citizen Canine. Technological developments have changed our lives and our relationships. But with animal companions, “we have to engage. They are a living breathing loving presence in our lives. Companion animals bring us back down to earth in the physical world.” And that is why, David agrees, the work ALDF does is so important—to make sure these companions are provided the legal protections they deserve.

Enter to win—two lucky winners will be chosen to receive a free copy of David Grimm’s Citizen Canine.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/citizen-canine-our-evolving-relationship-with-cats-and-dogs/feed/5Animal Suspense Fiction: The Chainhttp://aldf.org/blog/the-chain/
http://aldf.org/blog/the-chain/#commentsTue, 25 Feb 2014 20:18:50 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=46301Want to win a copy of an animal rights-themed suspense novel? Enter below to win—two lucky winners will be chosen at random to receive a copy of Robin Lamont’s novel The Chain.

While the Animal Legal Defense Fund works so hard within the legal system to achieve justice for animals, we see so many heart-breaking crimes against animals. That is why it is a relief of sorts to read about another world of crime—the fictional world of a seasoned and passionate animal rights investigator, Jude Brannock, in Robin Lamont’s novel The Chain. Robin is an award-winning suspense novelist and The Chain is the first book in her “The Kinship” series.

Many of ALDF’s legal actions have relied on evidence provided by investigations on factory farms—like our ALDF v. Mendes case. Factory farms and slaughterhouses are the center of animal cruelty in America, in terms of both sheer numbers of animals harmed and the epic failure of oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other agencies. For this reason, the Animal Legal Defense Fund is vigorously fighting “ag gag” laws, and filed the first lawsuit in history to challenge a state ag gag law.

So it is a pleasure to read a fictional tale on this topic. Released just last October, The Chain tells the story of Jude Brannock’s investigation in a small town that depends economically upon a meat-packing plant in the heart of Bragg Falls. In the way that many animal rights writers are drawn to compare life with fiction, Robin’s story centers upon a whistleblower, who has documented dangerous conditions and illegal treatment of pigs at the processing plant. When Jude Brannock arrives on the scene, however, she finds the whistleblower has committed suicide and his video documentation of illegal cruelty has disappeared. The townspeople aren’t sure what to do, afraid that an investigation will affect their livelihoods. Meanwhile, a sinister force is at play to hide the dark world inside the slaughterhouse.

Robin Lamont has had an incredible journey herself—before becoming a novelist she was first a Broadway actress, an assistant district attorney, and a private investigator. Her novels always focus on social justice issues, and it is a delight to read an animal rights-themed crime fiction novel from such a talented writer–The Chain will appeal to animal advocates and the general public alike.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/the-chain/feed/3The Lost Whalehttp://aldf.org/blog/the-lost-whale/
http://aldf.org/blog/the-lost-whale/#commentsThu, 06 Feb 2014 17:00:56 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=46065This week in ALDF’s Animal Book Club, we are reading The Lost Whale: the True Story of an Orca Named Luna, by Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm (St. Martin’s Press). There’s been a lot in the news lately about the plight of orcas—from the raging controversy sparked by revelations about SeaWorld’s mistreatment of whales in the stunning documentary Blackfish, to ALDF’s lawsuit with NRDC against the U.S. Navy for planning to kill thousands of endangered whales and dolphins (and harm millions more) with underwater sonar and explosives testing in southern California and Hawaii. And of course, ALDF was delighted with the recent news that finally Lolita, the orca held captive in illegal and miserable conditions at the Miami Seaquarium for 43 years, may receive the protections she is due under the Endangered Species Act. ALDF—along with PETA—will continue to do everything we can to give Lolita her freedom.

So in a sense, The Lost Whale addresses these issues about the harms our society brings upon all these giants of the sea, by telling the tale of one particular whale. It is the heartbreaking and true story of a lonely orca named “Luna,” who befriended humans in Nootka Sound, off the coast of Vancouver Island. One of the beauties of this story is the deeply personal connection between humans and orcas that reflects the great emotional intelligence that orcas possess. In this way, we cringe all the more to think of Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium, or Tilikum at SeaWorld, languishing miserably in pathetically tiny tanks—tanks so shallow they can’t ever dive or engage in true swimming behaviors, and so lonely it defies all natural and social experience that is their birthright as wild animals.

In The Lost Whale, Luna becomes separated from his pod, and his desperation to make connections reminds us of our common plight with nonhuman animals. Unable to find his own family (orcas are extremely family-oriented, social animals), he attempts to bond with humans. As is the case with Lolita and Tilikum, amongst animal lovers, scientists, and lawmakers controversy surrounded the issue of how best to help Luna. But one thing becomes clear—orcas belong in the wild, with their families, protected by law, safe from explosives and sonar testing, and that is why ALDF is working so hard to ensure this.

Part journalistic exposé of a national scandal, part personal tale of an interconnection between humans and animals, the charming story presented here makes The Lost Whale a book worth reading. The Lost Whale also expands upon the authors’ critically acclaimed films The Whale (narrated by Ryan Reynolds and produced by Scarlett Johansen)and Saving Luna.

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/the-lost-whale/feed/6Poems of Compassion by Gretchen Primackhttp://aldf.org/blog/poems-of-compassion-by-gretchen-primack/
http://aldf.org/blog/poems-of-compassion-by-gretchen-primack/#commentsWed, 08 Jan 2014 18:06:10 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=45633This week, ALDF features Kind, and asks you to explore the genre of compassionate poetry. In this book, author Gretchen Primack directs her focus on the world of animals. With quiet imagery, Gretchen captures the essential heart of our relationships with nonhuman animals—for better, and sadly, worse. Many of these issues echo the work the Animal Legal Defense Fund does in the courts to help win rights for and improve the lives of all animals. Gretchen, who lives in New York’s famed Hudson Valley (home of a gigantic producer of cruel force-fed foie gras that ALDF has successfully taken to task), presents poems about factory farms, hunting, companion animals neglected, to the simple yet profound interconnections between the species, and takes on all matter of animal rights issues. Some poems are gentle and invoke the beauty of a picnic on a warm day, while others pull back the iron screen that hides the brutal world of slaughterhouses, the workers who work in them, and the destruction of kindness that ensues in such a horrific environment of cruelty and pain.

Kind refers, I think, both to the idea of kindness—a compassionate center amongst a cruel world—and the bias of speciesm that blinds humans to the experiences of animals. Kindred spirits, we are all of the same kind. Consider this line from “Egg” after describing a hen suffering in unimaginable close confinement, “it feels like that. Blister it on the gas. Feed on it/ It makes us who we are.” Veganism sounds like a good idea, after reading Gretchen’s revelations of animal suffering. And her attention to the sentience of animals, the empathetic reach to the experience as animals experience them, is what makes this selection of poems enjoyable. In “Matter” she asks, “what if a fish/mattered as much as you/matter—if you do.”

The captivity industry takes hits as well, of course. A stinger is her poem, “Ringling.”

Maybe someday you will trick

for me.

Maybe I will find value in you

on one foot.

I will take you from family,

home,

so I can watch you

balance.

Will you bore me? I bore myself

now, reduced

to your conditions, cut off

from my life

and language. None of me

is left; still

you found something

to waste.

Certainly, this book is no child’s book. The power of poetry is the ability to move the reader, with just a few carefully chosen words. Selected rhythms and cadence chosen wisely can strike at the essence of an experience and send truth deep into the heart of a reader. Poetry is an epiphany, when done well—a revelation and an awakening. Here, in Kind, that awakening is of cruelty to animals and our interdependence upon them. It isn’t easy or meant to be scrolled through with a short attention span. And yet, that is why Kind, a very slim volume with quiet sketches of animals and short poems, is both powerful and accessible. In this way, the reader engages with important animal rights issues and sees animals in the light of an artist. They certainly deserve no less—and this volume is worth reading!

We enjoyed Gretchen’s writing as co-author of The Lucky Ones: My Passionate Fight for Farmed Animals with Woodstock Animal Sanctuary’s founder, Jenny Brown. Gretchen Primack is also the author of several books, including Doris’ Red Spaces and The Slow Creaking of Planets and her poetry has been published in numerous journals of excellent repute, including The Paris Review and The Antioch Review. The book is available at gretchenprimack.com/kind.

Buy the Book

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/poems-of-compassion-by-gretchen-primack/feed/2Bleating Hearts: the Hidden World of Animal Sufferinghttp://aldf.org/blog/bleating-hearts-the-hidden-world-of-animal-suffering/
http://aldf.org/blog/bleating-hearts-the-hidden-world-of-animal-suffering/#commentsWed, 11 Dec 2013 19:00:32 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=45255The Animal Book Club is thrilled to review Mark Hawthorne’s brand new book Bleating Hearts: the Hidden World of Animal Sufferingwhich hit shelves November 29th and is available as a paperback, a Nook book, or Kindle.So many of us call ourselves “animal lovers,” and yet suspect that there is a whole world of animal exploitation we turn our eyes away from, an awful truth that radiates like the heat of a blinding sun. It’s too hard to know, we tell ourselves, and yet as advocates and as companions to animals who share our lives, we are also compelled to know. Bleating Hearts is the book that we each need to read! And that is why Mark and ALDF are providing three autographed copies of Bleating Heartsto enter to win between December 11 and December 18 for your chance to get a free copy of Bleating Hearts!

Last week, the Animal Book Club spoke to Mark Hawthorne, live and in person, about the importance of knowing (watch the exclusive video here). “The truth is,” Mark writes, “we have an impoverished understanding of the animals we share this planet with.” And that is why Bleating Hearts is so important as a treatise on animal abuse—readers walk away with a far greater understanding of life as so many animals experience it.

Bleating Hearts explores the ways animals are harmed—ways few people may be aware of, but that are just as cruel as the factory farming, laboratory testing, fur farming, and exploitation in entertainment and ‘abusement’ parks that advocates work so hard to publicize. For example, Bleating Hearts contains sections on controversial topics like animals used in religion and sacrificial rites, the negative representations of animals in art, and the exploitation of animals in sports. From the sexual abuse of animals, to animals who are used for manual labor, Bleating Hearts is thorough but engaging, shocking but enlightening as well. Mark has an incredible ability to provide information without overwhelming the reader, and this book will be enjoyed by the most passionate animal advocates as well as those who are new to the world of animal advocacy.

“It is crucial that we see beyond the veil that hides this world of suffering from us,” Mark writes in Bleating Hearts. “Equally important,” he says, “we need to know that there is some optimism amid all the despair.” And that’s something Mark does so well, in this book and his previous works, and in his activism as well. Despite horrendous cruelty, mounting obstacles, and cultural resistance, Mark writes, speaks, and acts with an endlessly optimistic and encouraging spirit. Readers will put this book down and be inspired to act.

Mark is also author of Striking at the Roots: a Practical Guide to Animal Activism, an imminently useful book for animal advocates. Mark’s previous book encourages realistic ways we can each dedicate our lives to improving the lot of animals, and advises us on how to heal from the emotional aftermath of fighting against an infrastructure of animal cruelty so widespread, so enmeshed in our basic cultural traditions, that the rest of the world simply takes it for granted. Mark’s website lists a number of venues around the world where interested readers can find Bleating Hearts today. Get ready to open your eyes to new ways to help animals!

What’s the most useful thing you do to help animals?

]]>http://aldf.org/blog/bleating-hearts-the-hidden-world-of-animal-suffering/feed/8Getting Wise about Animals: the Power of Playinghttp://aldf.org/blog/getting-wise-about-animals-the-power-of-playing/
http://aldf.org/blog/getting-wise-about-animals-the-power-of-playing/#commentsWed, 31 Jul 2013 22:15:32 +0000http://aldf.org/?p=42895As adults, many of us long for the carefree days of childhood play. The world not only felt less serious, but seemed more manageable, more interactive. Playing brings us joy and freedom, and brings us into contact with others, helps bridge social gaps, and teaches us important social cues. But what about nonhuman animals, do they play too? Do they have fun?

Today, ALDF’s Animal Book Club continues our exploration of the book Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creaturesby Virginia Morell—a contributing correspondent for Science and contributor for National Geographic—by thinking about the way that animals play. Virginia is also an award-winning author of books like Ancestral Passions and Blue Nile, as well as Wildlife Wars (which she co-authored with Richard Leakey).

Intuitively, we know nonhuman animals play. We’ve seen our companion animals scuffle on lawns, or knock each other off our couches. How about dolphins, elephants, wolves, and even rats? Animal Wise explores research on the thoughts and emotions of these animals and many more. In a chapter called “The Laughter of Rats,” Virginia discusses the complex play of rats. “Pinning must be brief and must be reciprocated. Bites must be quick and not cause actual harm.” Interestingly, researchers note that children, observing the interactions of rats, have no difficulty interpreting the interactions as “playing.” Adults, on the other hand, interpreted it as “fighting,” and aggressive behavior. Doesn’t this difference tell us a whole lot about humans?

Playing often involves wrestling—without the aggressive behaviors present in true fighting, like drawing blood and raising their fur. Instead, it is about fun. Observers note the rats roughhouse gently, stopping if the other gets hurt, and even switching their common roles, like allowing the other to pin him or her down. We can all attest to this behavior in what we’ve witnessed in children as well as puppies and kittens. Playing isn’t unique to the human species. But what about laughter? Do rats laugh?

In Animal Wise, Virginia describes the phenomenon of rat laughter. In his research, Jaak Panskepp, an emeritus professor of psychobiology at Bowling Green State University and neuroscientist at Washington State University, finds that during playtime rats make chirping sounds similar in function to laughter. While not willing to call this “laughter” officially, something only humans may do, in many ways this chirping mimics our own laughter. Although not audible to human ears, an ultrasonic bat detector picked up laughter frequencies. Panskepp tickles a young female rat, who subsequently chirps that displayed similar to the way a young child might giggle; afterwards, the rat “bunny-hopped” around her bin. “That’s a clear sign of joy,” said Panskepp. “It’s a move you see in rats, dogs, and other animals when they’re playing and happy.”

Laughter symbolizes joy, and demonstrates once again that humans are not the only animal capable of emotions and cognition. Despite this great capacity for suffering (and love) the Animal Welfare Act, which is the primary federal law that protects animals in laboratory settings, does not protect rats (or mice, birds, or a whole host of other animals). Rats feel, rats think, rats dream, and even have unique and expressive personalities—science shows us this is true—they even grieve deeply. So is it okay that we don’t adequately protect them by federal law from some of the shockingly cruel and unnecessary tests routinely performed on millions of rats every day?

What do you think? What does this teach us? Maybe we should be tickling, not testing upon rats?